


Her Story

by 56leon



Series: HollyLocke [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Angst, F/M, Friendship, MCD are all Pokemon, Moral Ambiguity, Moral Dilemmas, Nuzlocke Challenge, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pokemon Death, Pokemon don't talk but Locked trainers can read their auras so close enough I guess, Slow Burn, background LGBT relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:48:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23524099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/56leon/pseuds/56leon
Summary: "Is the Locke a blessing or a curse?"     ||     "It doesn't matter. It's still my story."Alouise Holiday, better known as Holly, is Locked, chosen by Arceus to bear a heavy burden for reasons unknown. Having feared yet loved Pokemon battles her whole life, she stands at the edge of a grand stage waiting for her decision. With the help of a champion, a moth, and a few close friends, this is the year she reaches for that destiny.A fic based on (but not a direct novelization of) my Pokemon Shield Nuzlocke run.
Relationships: Dande | Leon/Original Character(s), Dande | Leon/Original Female Character(s)
Series: HollyLocke [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1692793
Comments: 5
Kudos: 6





	1. Snompredictable Circsnomstances

**Author's Note:**

> As of 04/06/2020, the run this is based on is HALFWAY DONE (current gym: Circhester), which means I'm playing catch-up with my writing while I finish it up! Don't expect particularly fast updates - I'm not a fast writer, and it's been a while since my last upload at all so I'm kinda rusty - but I'll at least try to be consistent.
> 
> My full rules list and stipulations (things that I personally implement for certain story elements) are down at the bottom, so feel free to check those out.
> 
> As far as ages go, Hop/Marnie/Bede are 16 (non-canon age "minimum" for the Galarian Gym Challenge), Holly is 18, Leon and Sonia are 22. Everyone else is kinda hand-wavey whatever.
> 
> I don't think there's anything else to cover here for now, so.....enjoy!

Locke. It’s not a word that people like to hear. It’s a curse set upon people for no known reason, a promise that any Pokemon to accompany a Locked trainer would suffer a terrible fate. Fortunately for Holly, ‘Locke’ is a word very rarely heard in the Galar region, and so she finds her solace there, away from the judgmental eyes that had followed her wherever she went in Sinnoh. Postwick is a nice enough town, and after five years there, she finally feels comfortable enough to call the family that lives next door ‘friends’.

And friends, Holly is quick to learn, means front row tickets to battles regardless of how many times she’s turned them down. It’s not that she doesn’t want them - quite the opposite, really - but working as a Pokemon breeder is pretty lucrative, and she can afford her own tickets to Wyndon. Today, however...

“They don’t have to keep doing this,” she complains to her Aunt Merida as they sit in the bleachers, having used the offered tickets, much to her chagrin. “Doesn’t Leon have anybody better to give these things to?”

On her other side, her Uncle Thomas just gives a hearty laugh. “Just take gifts graciously,” he says, reprimanding her lightly. “You really have no reason to complain; I know you already set this to record...three weeks ago.”

“Would’ve been four, but the schedule hadn’t been posted yet,” she shoots back, before flushing and growing silent at Thomas’s smug grin. “Point taken.”

She says nothing more as they wait for the battle to start, and it’s not too long before Leon steps out onto the pitch first, accompanied by his Charizard; they’re both equal showboats, but she can’t help but giggle when Charizard huffs a little, obviously impatient to start the match. Fortunately, his opponent comes out soon after, and Raihan - just as flamboyant as Leon - goes through his own peacockery before releasing his own Pokemon, Goodra. The battle is long and arduous, even for a simple one-on-one battle, but the outcome is clear, just as it always is: victor, Champion Leon.

The inevitable win doesn’t make it any less energizing for the crowd, however, and even after the match, Holly is alight with burning passion for everything Pokemon related. “Oh, did you see her? She was beautiful,” she all but whines when the match is over, recounting every single one of each trainer’s Pokemon as the three of them walk to a nearby cafe to take a food break before returning to Postwick. “What I wouldn’t give to have trained that girl up from a Goomy!”

“Then why don’t you?” Holly freezes in her tracks from Thomas’s suggestion, eyes widening at the suggestion. Thomas looks back at her, understanding why she’s so hesitant but at the same time confused at her actions. “Listen, Holly, you know your own limits. You don’t have to hold your dreams back because of  _ that.” _

“That girl who drove Team Rocket out of Sinnoh* was also a Locked trainer,” Merida adds, but Holly shakes her head vehemently. Flukes are exceptions; Mercy is a hero despite her status, not because of it. Holly is...well, she’s still cursed, and nothing will change that.

Not to mention...no. She won’t say it; her aunt and uncle are already doing to much for her that throwing accusations at them would be baseless and rude. “I’m fine as it is,” she lies, ignoring the way her heart is still racing from the exhibition match they had just watched. “Just watching...is enough.” She clears her throat before smiling at them;she hopes that they don’t see exactly how much of it is fake. “You two go on ahead, okay? I’m just gonna stay out here for a while.”

They’re obviously reluctant, but agree nonetheless and head to the cafe to give Holly some time alone. Even if it won’t do any good, the sentiment is still appreciated, and her steps slow down as she follows the same path that they do. She had initially wanted the time to think, but...there’s not much to think about. Her mind is set, even if their approval gives her relief to  _ some _ degree. Still, she drags her feet as she makes her way to the cafe, and perhaps for the better, as she finds herself hesitating a moment as soon as she gets there, her hand hovering up to the door handle but her mind preoccupied by something else entirely.

A squeak draws her attention, and she turns around to find a small white Pokemon jumping right towards her. She opens her arms instinctively, used to the rambunctious attacks from baby ‘mons, and catches the little guy with a slight  _ oof _ as she has a bit of wind knocked out of her. Little seems to be right on the mark, too, as she takes a moment to identify the Pokemon as a Snom- and a pretty young one at that. If she had to wager his experience level too, it’d probably be around three; whoever had bred him had given him  _ some _ training, but definitely not enough to be battling in a place like Wyndon. “Hey there buddy,” she says, cooing slightly as he chirps and makes noises that she hadn’t even known Snom could make. Then again, she’s not _too_ familiar with the Pokemon native to the Circhester area, so she doesn’t have a lot to go on. “Where’s your trainer?”

The Snom doesn’t answer, but it seems he doesn’t have to as a shout echoes from right around the corner. “Snom!” The voice is familiar, but Holly doesn’t have much time to process who it belongs to before the answer reveals itself and a familiar baseball cap peeks around the corner, followed by the whole Champion himself. He spots Snom before he ever recognizes Holly, and runs towards him, obviously out of breath as he comes to a stop in front of them. “There you went, you little bugger,” Leon says, out of breath but grinning at the Snom in Holly’s arms without fully realizing who the one holding it is. “Man, if I hadn’t found you, Sonia would’ve-”

“Killed you? She might anyways. Where’s Charizard?”

Leon yelps in surprise, jumping up and taking a step back before realizing who it is. “Geez Holly, you sure...” He trails off as he processes her question, and then looks behind him with a groan. “I lost him again, didn’t I.”

“You did,” she agrees. “Is this Snom yours? I thought you already had your team cemented.”

“Oh, I do!” he turns his attention back to the Snom currently making himself at home in Holly’s arms. “I was actually just picking him up for Sonia; she’s busy with some stuff for the prof, so I ended up running to Route 5 to grab him right before the exhibition.”

She hums thoughtfully. “Congratulations on that, by the way,” she adds, speaking a little louder.  _ “Charizard _ was amazing, as always.”

As if on cue, a shadow passes over the duo, and Leon shields his face from the light as he looks up, watching Charizard descend and land next to him with an irritated huff. “There you are, buddy! I was just about to ask Holly to-” He pauses before turning his attention away from Charizard and towards Holly. “I was just about to ask you to take that Snom over to Sonia’s for me. I’m actually kind of in a hurry, so it’d be really appreciated.”

She sighs, looking down at the Snom. He seems content, and she doesn’t want to jostle him too much just to hand him back over to Leon, so she begrudgingly agrees. “I’ll be charging my mobile breeder premium though,” she adds with a huff. “Pokeball, please.” He unclips it from his belt and passes it onto her, and she assumes the transaction is over and turns around to head into the cafe.

Leon, however, holds a hand out to stop her. “Wait, Holly-” He cuts himself off, but she stops nonetheless, and he seems surprised that she’s given him that much; fair, given that she usually wouldn’t. He hurriedly pulls out an envelope before she can leave again, thrusting it at her. Even though she doesn’t turn around, he keeps talking. “Why don’t you take the gym challenge? I mean, I always see you at the battles, and my little bro is signing up this year, so I thought you two could be, like, rivals or something...”

It’s a sudden question, but her answer is the same as the one she had given her aunt and uncle before. “I’m a breeder, not a trainer,” she reminds him, finally turning towards him with an indecipherable look in her eyes. “I don’t do gym battles. Or  _ any _ battles.”

“But you love them.” She can’t deny that, so she doesn’t. “And look at all the Pokemon around you, I mean, this little guy’s only know you for a few minutes and he already loves you!” The Snom in question purrs softly in her arms, an action that she hadn’t been aware Snoms were capable of making. “You really care about Pokemon, and you know how to handle them...even if I’ve never seen you battle, I know you’d be great at it.”

She flinches, and if he catches it he doesn’t say anything about it. “Out there, making history...that’s cool and all, but it’s not my story to tell. I just take care of the baby ‘mons. It’s up to you guys to do the rest.”

He frowns. “Hey, don’t say things like-”

She changes topic completely, glossing over everything he’s just said. “Where are you going? Are you late for something?”

He crosses his arms and narrows his eyes, obviously not about to let her off the hook, but does so anyways and relaxes soon after. “Oh, I’m actually heading home. Gotta give Hop his stuff, you know how impatient he can be! Do you mind taking that kiddo to Sonia for me? And maybe picking up a starter and a Pokedex while you’re there?”

Despite the smile plastered on his face, she still frowns at how demanding he’s being. At how ridiculous this situation is. At how slowly she’s crumbling. “Listen, Leon, I don’t-”

He sighs in defeat. “I know, I know, I can’t force you. Just...” He hesitates a moment more before smiling again and shoving the envelope into the thin space between her and Snom. “Think about it, okay? I dunno about you, but I really think you’re meant to be out there, instead of just in the seats. Can’t tell a story that you never tried to make, right?”

He looks as though he wants to say more, but Charizard is starting to drag him away, and she watches, flabbergasted, as he disappears from sight. Leon is an absolute blithering idiot half the time, and so his words should be the same- useless and meaningless. False praise and high hopes from somebody who doesn’t know the truth.

But maybe that’s it. Maybe it’s the hope that she needs, not the fear from others who know the cost of her actions, and definitely not the approval of people who only want her to chase her dreams because it’s better than festering in memories.

Holly looks at the Snom in her arms, bites her lip, and makes a decision she hopes she won’t regret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> RULES I'M USING  
> \- I can only catch the first encounter per route/Wild Area section, and they must be nicknamed. I can only use shadowed (!) or fished encounters; the only exception is in caves where all Pokemon are shown in the overworld. If I defeat or run away from an encounter, I cannot make another one.  
> \- I CANNOT use or encounter Raid Pokemon.  
> \- Once a Pokemon faints, it's considered dead and it must be released or boxed and never used again.  
> \- Dupes/Species Clause: If the first encounter is of a Pokemon line I already have, I can choose not to capture it and find another.
> 
> GENERAL STIPULATIONS  
> \- Starter........yeah. Spoiler alert, Holly keeps the Snom. That's the only "illegal" encounter in my game (in-game, I ended up WTing my starter until I got a Snom.....it took me hours...........).  
> \- Since there are 20+ routes that I can catch on, I won't be mentioning every Pokemon that I catch. Any Pokemon that won't become story relevant (basically anyone who doesn't ever participate in a gym or rival battle) will just be mentioned in the notes, if you're curious.  
> \- For story reasons, certain battles won't be counted as Nuzlocked battles. Unfortunately, also for story spoiler reasons, I cannot actually say which ones those will be until I get to them in the story.  
> \- This fic won't end adjacent to game canon, so when we get to the end of the story, I'll explain how the end of my actual run went for anybody curious.
> 
> *Yes, that was on purpose!


	2. Late Night Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, you just need one person on your side. Someone who knows what you're going through, someone who isn't afraid to push you forward, someone who can be truthful when others can't.
> 
> This is Holly's someone.
> 
> (No, it's not Leon.)

Holly’s guardians are thrilled when she enters the cafe with the Snom, less so because she’s somehow procured another baby Pokemon and moreso because she’s never actually taken care of a Snom before, which means this is a first for all three of them. “Aunt Merida,  _ stop,” _ Holly chides her as she scoots her chair further away from the table they’re sitting at; she’s trying to google a baby Snom’s diet, but it’s really hard when the older woman keeps trying to feed the Pokemon treats. “You know you’re not supposed to put them on generic diets until they’re  _ at least _ level five.”

“Aw, but look at it! It’s so cute!” Holly rolls her eyes as Merida coos and the Snom eats it up, chirruping happily as he basks in the attention. “You’re always dealing with Wooloos and Rookidees all the time, hon, I think this is a nice change of pace. Do you think Sonia would mind if we looked after it, just for a couple of days?”

Holly frowns at that. “We can’t, Leon’s already late with the delivery since he went back to Postwick, and I told him I’d take this little fella to Sonia’s right away.” She finally gets a hit on Snom’s dietary needs, and stands up. “Okay, I’ve really got to go now. I’m just going to go to Wedgehurst and then get back home, so don’t worry about me.”

“You know we do anyways,” Thomas adds, but waves at her nonetheless. She makes a quick stop at the counter to order a little treat for Snom - she may be just as bad as Merida when it comes to spoiling cute Pokemon, but at least she’s feeding him something within his nutritional guidelines - before heading back out. The sun is already setting, but hopefully the taxi will make it back to Wedgehurst before full nightfall.

Unfortunately, however, luck doesn’t seem to be on her side. The taxis are completely congested from the exhibition match earlier, and by the time her own Corviknight is over the Giant’s Cap, the sun is already starting to set. It’s not too far into the night, but it’s enough for her to be wary of walking from Route 2 to Postwick without a Pokemon of her own. “Hey,” she says to the Snom who still hasn’t gotten into its Pokeball, “you’re already a lot of trouble, you know that?”

It chirrups in response, and she can only take that as smug agreement.

* * *

When they finally get to Wedgehurst, Snom is blinking sleep out of his eyes, and she knows it’s not much longer until he finally falls asleep after such a hectic day of being alive. She beelines straight down the route for the professor’s house, hoping that Sonia’s awake and that Professor Magnolia isn’t.

Three knocks on the door answer her question fairly easily. “Oh, you sodding idiot, where have you- Holly?” Sonia is already muttering insults under her breath when she opens the door, but they fall flat when she realizes that it isn’t Leon paying her a late night visit. “What are you doing here? I thought you were...” Her eyes drift down to the Snom in Holly’s arms, and her eyes widen in realization. “Did that boy saddle you with his own work again?”

Holly laughs, petting Snom as she talks. “Well, I suppose so, but he  _ is _ paying me for it, so...”

“Right. You know you’re too nice for your own good. Leon might be Champion, but he needs to learn to take responsibility for literally anything other than battling.” Despite her harsh words, Sonia just sighs and shakes her head before realizing that Holly’s still standing outside, at which point she steps away from the door and invites her inside. “Don’t just stand there, you’ll catch a cold! Here, gran’s asleep so I can’t exactly put a kettle on, but do you like tapu cocoa? Er, the microwave kind.”

“Oh, yeah, thanks.” Holly closes the door behind her as she steps inside, taking a seat at the dining table closest to the door. “Have you seen Hop yet? Leon said he’s starting his gym challenge, so I want to wish him luck, but...”

“No,” Sonia says as she rifles through cupboards to find the cocoa packets. “He hasn’t - aha! - he hasn’t left Postwick, if that’s what you’re asking. I got a call from Leon earlier, saying they’d stop by tomorrow to pick up his Pokedex.” Her expression sours, an action hidden by her turned back as she fills their mugs with water and sets them to heat in the microwave. “And I see now why he hung up so quickly when I asked about little Snow Monster here.”

Snom chirps angrily in his tired stupor, and Holly laughs lightly as she pets him to sleep. “I don’t think he likes that nickname. Oh, why’d you ask for him, anyways? I didn’t think you were too interested in ice-types.”

The microwave beeps just in time, and Sonia pulls their mugs out and starts up the stairs to her room, with Holly following suit. “Ah, you know, a little bit of this and that. I can only help gran research so many Drednaws before it gets  _ dreadfully _ boring. Do you have clothes? I think my old challenger uniform might fit you, if you don’t mind sleeping in that. No, don’t give me that look,” she adds as soon as she glances at Holly and sees the refusal forming in her expression. “I am  _ not _ sending you back out there without a Pokemon. You know wild ‘mons like to get ballsy at night.”

Holly considers denying the offer, but Sonia has a point, and she gives in. She sets Snom on Sonia’s pillow before sitting on the bed. In the meantime, Sonia dumps a small pouch of hair ties and clips in front of Holly before turning towards her wardrobe in the opposite corner of the room. “Pick your poison, I’ll go pick your shirt.”

“Right...thanks.” As Sonia rummages through her wardrobe for any smaller clothes to fit the smaller girl, Holly grabs a tie, pulls her hair into a bun and tries to find something to talk about. It’s not that they don’t have anything in common - quite the opposite, actually, the two of them became fast friends when they found out they both liked fashion and Pokemon in equal measures - but rather that Holly isn’t sure if she can broach the topic that she wants to. Finally, she bites the bullet and blurts out, “Leon said he wants me to take the gym challenge.”

Sonia turns back to her, stares at her for a long moment, and looks back into the wardrobe. “You should. I think it’d be a good experience for you.”

“But there are things stopping me,” Holly says, biting her lip even though her own arguments are getting weaker. She should be strong, for herself  _ and _ for the Pokemon, but the world just loves chipping away at her self-restraint. “I’m...I’m not a Galar native, and I’m just a breeder anyways, and...”

“You’re Locked,” Sonia says matter-of-factly, and Holly flinches before her eyes widen at the realization. One of her best friends saying that so brazenly, with so much  _ nonchalance- _ the only reason Holly remembers to breathe is because she needs a full lung to speak.

“How do you know?”

“Aunt Merida only hinted it enough.” It still confuses Holly that everybody calls her guardians their own aunt and uncle, but she cares less about that at the moment and more about why Sonia is so blase about the whole thing. “She keeps asking about Lockes and if there’s any way to break one...beyond Hop, you’re basically the only other non-trainer this far south of Motostoke, so it wasn’t too hard to connect the dots.”

“Hop already has Wooloo,” Holly points out lamely as if it changed anything, and Sonia hums thoughtfully.

“Huh, you’re right. Well either way, I knew she was talking about you.” She pauses, looking back at Holly. “Are you all right?”

Holly fiddles awkwardly with one of the heart clips; the soft blue clashes with the vibrant ginger of her hair, and she’d never pull off the strategically-placed hairclips as well as Sonia does anyways, but it’s better to focus on that than the other feeling she has at that particular moment. “I’m just...confused.” She exhales sharply- the sound comes close to, but isn’t quite, a laugh. Well, maybe it is, at how ridiculous this situation seems to her. “Shouldn’t you hate me? Shouldn’t you just...I don’t know, take Snom and run?”

The looks that cross Sonia’s face are indecipherable, but they each hold an ounce of something recognizable. Fear, conflict, understanding. Finally, she speaks. “Why  _ should _ I hate you? You’re my friend, Holly, and a damn good breeder.”

“Because I’m Locked!” Darkness surrounds Holly all of a sudden, and she splutters and takes the oversized shirt off of her face where Sonia had thrown it. Her hands cling to the fabric tensely even as they lower into her lap. “Don’t act like this is nothing, Sonia! I- you- you shouldn’t even be around me!”

Instead of backing away like Holly hopes, Sonia breaks expectations by sitting on the bed next to her. “Everybody has different beliefs,” Sonia says, her hand moving to rest on top of one of Holly’s curled fists. “Did you know that Locked trainers are revered in Johto? But in Kalos, they’re feared because they’re believed to be remnants of the Great War.”

Holly looks at their hands, then looks away. “In Sinnoh, they’re hated.”

“But we’re not in Sinnoh, Holly.” Sonia sighs. “I...I’ll admit, I was scared at first.” Holly glances up in surprise, shocked that Sonia would even admit such a thing; even after everything that had happened, her parents, her siblings...her entire family had always waved the heavy feelings aside as if they were nothing. “When I figured it out...I asked gran if being Locked was contagious.” She laughs slightly to break the tension. “But do you know what she told me? She said,” she begins to mimic the waver of Professor Magnolia’s aging voice, “ _ Sonia Magnolia, don’t go judging people for things they didn’t choose. They say that Champion Red himself was Locked, and you never hear anyone complaining about that! Also no, it’s not contagious.” _

Holly laughs slightly; that does sound like something Professor Magnolia would say. Even if they’re empty words from most other people trying to be nice, they’re still comforting to hear from a Pokemon professor. “You remember that Christmas,” Sonia continues, “when I didn’t go to the Christmas party because I had to help a flock of Delibird stuck in Wedgehurst station?”

Confusion creeps up on Holly. “Yeah, the professor wouldn’t even let me leave Postwick to help. It seemed fake as hell.” __

“It was.” Sonia lets out a soft exhale, looking down at the floor. “I was scared to see you because of all those thoughts I was having. I didn’t want to lose you as a friend, and I was afraid you’d be able to see that I had been...well, judging you like that.”

Holly doesn’t reply for a moment, and Sonia looks back up in worry. “Oh.” Despite the simple word, there are a wide range of emotions in her eyes. “I...” She doesn’t know what to say, so she settles on crying instead, silent drops rolling down her cheek that slowly but surely start to send Sonia into a panic. “It’s- it’s fine,” Holly tries to reassure her, even as she wipes her tears away. “I just...I’ve never...” She jumps up all of a sudden, startling Sonia. “Sorry. I’m going to go change really quick.”

She locks herself in Sonia’s bathroom, trying to quell the tears in her eyes. First Leon, now Sonia...Arceus knows why she’s crying now when she hasn’t in years, but she is, and so she brings her own shirt to her face to catch them before changing into Sonia’s old gym challenge uniform. It’s hard, but she does manage to stop crying by the time she’s finished changing, and even if the redness in her eyes won’t go away, at least they’ve stopped leaking as she goes back to Sonia. “Sorry,” she says again, but refuses to expand on whatever the hell had just happened; if she does, she’s afraid she’ll just get weak again. Instead, she looks over at Snom, who’s still on the pillow where she had left him.

“You know,” Sonia says when she notices where Holly’s attention has gone, “I heard from his breeder that he was a fighter. He really wants to go out and explore the world with a trainer. I think you two would be a good fit.”

“I still haven’t said I’d be a trainer,” Holly argues, but any bite she may have had is gone and the argument is even weaker than before. “And even if I were...Snom’s just a baby. He doesn’t deserve that.”

Sonia looks at Snom, then back at Holly. “Are you saying, if he wanted to, you wouldn’t accept him?”

“No-” Holly recoils, knowing that Sonia has painted her into a corner. It’s odd, how ridiculously attached to the baby Pokemon she’s gotten in the few hours they’ve been together, but she knows that, if she were the Snom’s choice, then she wouldn’t deny him. But...that’s  _ if _ he accepts her... “I hate you,” she mutters half-heartedly before looking at the Snom. Things she hadn’t wanted- no, things she had wanted but had been too afraid to reach for...in less than twenty-four hours, it’s as though those walls have been completely broken down by two people and a bug-type. Hah.

Holly gently nudges Snom, looking at him as if it were the first time. She takes him all in, just in case he never wanted to see her again, and begins to learn things about him. Like how his eyes are just a little bigger than other Snoms she’s seen on TV, and how his neutral laying position is just a little tilted, and how his top spike is uniquely cleaved like twin mountains.

Snom yawns quietly at being jostled, but seems to perk up when he sees Holly. “Hey buddy,” she says softly, looking at Sonia before looking back at Snom. “Do you mind if we talk?” Snom chirrups in approval, wiggling to wake itself up more. She laughs at the oddly cute display. “I heard you wanna be a great battler, is that right?”

Snom squeaks excitedly at the prospect, making an angry expression -  _ fight me! _ \- followed by a joyful bounce to prove his point. Holly feels even guiltier. “I want to be a great trainer,” she continues, and her voice grows smaller; why is it so much harder to say that out loud? “But...I don’t think I can be.”

She explains everything to Snom, and he’s serious as he listens; despite him being a baby Pokemon, there’s an understanding between them that scares her. She tells him about the curse, about how Locked Pokemon can’t just  _ faint _ . She tells him about her future, and his future, and how she doesn’t want him to carry that burden if he doesn’t want to.

She doesn’t tell him about her past; that’s the only thing she keeps to herself. That’s the only thing she has left to her name, even if she doesn’t want it. But everything else she tells Snom, even if she doesn’t know if he can understand it, as young as he is.

“So,” she says finally, softly, “if you still want to be with me, despite...well, everything, I would be honored to have an adventure with you.”

Snom is quiet for a moment, and he actually turns to Sonia this time, not saying anything before looking back at Holly. He still doesn’t say anything, not for a while, but suddenly things begin to change.

Around him, a silver light begins to swirl in misty patterns, and it breaks her heart to see snowflakes and stars appear in the air that she’s sure Sonia can’t see. This is the only good part of being Locked, Holly accepts begrudgingly, and even then there are repercussions. Being able to see your own Pokemon’s Aura, being able to tell when they fully accept you as their trainer...being able to see when it goes out for the first-last time. “He...he agrees,” she mutters softly, something pricking at the corner of her eyes; the drops are too small to be tears again, but there’s still plenty of emotion in them. “He wants to be my first Pokemon.”

“You can see his Aura now, right? What does it looks like?” Sonia’s questions are small, hesitant, as if she’s unsure whether she should ask or not; the trepidation is valid, and Holly would feel it invasive if Sonia wasn’t the one to trust her despite being Locked in the first place.

However, it takes another moment for Holly to sort through the emotions that she can sense in the Snom’s Aura. “It’s...strong,” she says softly. “But it’s also...accepting. It’s cold, like home.” Her mind wanders to Mt. Coronet, and Snowpoint, and she wonders if he’d ever want to see Sinnoh. Her hometown is far too warm for a Snom to thrive, but maybe...maybe someday, she’d show him where she came from.

“Holly...” Sonia’s voice hangs in the air, but she seems to decide against whatever she had planned on saying, instead patting the pillow next to hers. They’re both adults now, and it’s much easier for a thirteen-year old Holly and seventeen-year old Sonia to have a sleepover on a single bed than two fully grown women, but they’ve managed before. “Get some rest. Hop’s coming tomorrow, and you need to prepare for that.”

Fear pools at the pit of her stomach at the thought, but she pushes it aside in favor of resting her head on the pillow; she’s far more tired than she realizes, it seems, as exhaustion overtakes her. “I don’t...want to tell him,” she says after a loud yawn, resting her hand on the Snom that has made her stomach his bed for the night. “I won’t ever give him a reason to know.”

“Good,” Sonia agrees, laying down next to her. “That’s good. Just...” She hesitates. “Don’t force yourself, if anything does happen.”

“I won’t.” It’s a lie that Sonia doesn’t have to know she’s telling. Holly turns her head on the pillow before asking a question. “Hey, Sonia...does Leon know? That I’m Locked, I mean.”

She laughs in response. “I’d reckon he doesn’t. You know how dense he is.”

“Yeah...” A pause. “Hey, Sonia? What do you think I should name Snom?”

“Well,” Sonia smiles, patting Holly’s hand before closing her own eyes, “that’s something you can deal with tomorrow, isn’t it, Trainer Holly?”

“Yeah,” she mutters, feeling herself drifting off, emotionally and physically drained from everything that’s happened so far. “I can deal...with that...tomo...rrow....”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Game Comparison: This whole part is completely non-canon, so...everything is brand new! We'll finally get to the start of the true Locke in the next chapter, though, so this'll start to drift a little.
> 
> I'm going to try to keep this to _roughly_ a Monday weekly update schedule? As you can see though, it's Sunday today; I got a little excited, haha.
> 
> If you have any questions or comments, feel free to drop them below- I'll try to answer any questions I can (or at least tell you I can't), and even if I can't get to responding, everything you're willing to say is greatly appreciated.


	3. A Wild Rival Appeared!

When Holly awakens the next morning and finds that Snom isn’t next to her, she panics, fearing the worst- that he had changed his mind and left while she was asleep. She bolts up from the floor and immediately races downstairs, hoping that it isn’t too late to apologize. “Sonia, I-”

She freezes when she sees Sonia, and the two Pokemon balanced haphazardly on the kitchen table like a precarious Tower of Hanoi, alongside a third, unfamiliar Pokemon hooting in amusement. Sonia’s the first to turn her attention to Holly, smiling as she sets a plate of light blue pancakes on the table. “Good morning, Holly,” she says cheerfully. “I hope you like oran berry pancakes. As it turns out, little snow monster-” that earns a huff from Snom, “-prefers razz. The more you know!”

Holly blinks once, twice, three times before looking at Snom. “Uh, his name is Stardust.” Right, she had finally decided on that, and Snom - Stardust, now - crows happily at the name, his aura growing brighter for just a moment. “Also, should you really be feeding a baby Snom razz pancakes? I’m pretty sure he should still be on a leaf-only diet until he’s at least a month old.”

“Holly,” Sonia says with the same hesitation as the night before, but this time she forces herself to continue. “Snom...Stardust isn’t a baby.” Holly laughs at what she assumes is a joke, but Sonia shakes her head. “No, I’m serious. Not by Pokemon standards, at least. He’s already...what, five or six months old now?”

“But he’s barely level two,” Holly protests. Levels don’t necessarily equate to age, she knows that much, but no domestic Snom would still be level two after a few months of living and minimal training. Hell, Sonia’s Yamper is still considered young in dog Pokemon years, and he’s already in his mid-70’s. “What do you mean he’s not a baby?”

Sonia shrugs, looking over to where Stardust and Yamper are now proceeding to play-fight on the table with the monkey Pokemon clapping excitedly at the display. “It’s complicated. Nobody’s trained him. We’ve tried to trade him around for a while now, but nobody’s stuck. That’s why he ended up out here, with me.”

Realization dawns on Holly- why Stardust had been so excited to go on an adventure, why he had accepted her so readily. That’s almost a punch to the gut, knowing that she’s something of a last resort, but the way his aura shines so happily makes it worth it. Ah well. She can’t exactly say she’s not being selfish by accepting him, either.

“Hey, look who’s finally awake!” Whatever Holly may have wanted to say is cut off by Hop’s voice, echoing just loud enough to be called a shout. She looks over to the doorway where he’s standing, Leon grinning cheekily at her from over Hop’s shoulder; she scowls at him, but the hostility in the expression is near none. “Sonia said you’re gonna be taking the gym challenge this year, right? That makes us rivals, isn’t that right, Grookey?”

Holly laughs at the way the monkey Pokemon hoots excitedly and runs to Hop, clambering up his leg and settling on his shoulder. The two are like peas in a pod. “I suppose it does,” she agrees outwardly, if not inwardly. “But let your rival eat breakfast before you harass her and her Pokemon, okay?”

“Don’t worry about him, I’ll keep him company for a bit,” Sonia offers, and Hop jumps up and down excitedly as Yamper jumps - or rather, tumbles - off of the table to join him back outside. “Holly, I put some balls in your bag for you- oh, and I updated your dex while you were asleep. Ugh, Sinnoh is  _ so _ old school, I can’t believe they don’t use Rotoms. Leon, don’t say anything I wouldn’t,” she warns him before moving past him in the doorway, and he pouts before turning back to Holly.

“Yeah, Leon,” Holly repeats in a joking monotone as she helps herself to a stack of pancakes. “Don’t say anything Sonia wouldn’t.”

"Aw come off it, I’m not  _ that _ stupid.” Holly hums, but neither confirms nor denies. “Either way, everyone knows you listen to Sonia but not to the great champion himself," he teases, but backs off when he doesn't get a huffy snort like he's used to. Instead, she looks away, uncharacteristically embarrassed. "Hey, you okay? I was kidding, you know."

She shrugs. "I know." Another moment passes before she looks at him. "Can I be serious for a minute?”

The question confuses him. “You’re always serious, though?”

“Yeah, I should’ve figured.” She’s not exactly a Sally Sobble and has her own fair share of humor, but she’s definitely less sunny than the brothers and quieter than Sonia when she’s not in the middle of a packed stadium, so his assessment isn’t particularly wrong. Still, that causes her to sigh and rub the back of her neck. “I’ll try to work on that. But seriously, thanks for...I don’t know, talking to me, I guess. Sonia really convinced me, but I never would’ve talked to her about it if you hadn’t brought it up first.”

She can trust Leon to be as carefree as ever, and such is the case as he just grins, his fists resting against his hips as he puffs his chest proudly. “Of course! Postwick is a family, you know! We all have to look out for each other!”

“All seven of us, yeah.” Holly can’t help but laugh - more at his ridiculousness than any actual gratitude - before finishing her meal and excusing herself to change and grab her bag. Stardust squeaks joyfully when she returns and they head outside to join Sonia and Hop; the former seems to be teaching Hop and his new partner how to coordinate attacks, as Yamper chases Wooloo around the other side of the yard. Holly looks at the scene, commits it to memory, and then calls out to him. "Hey, Hop. How about a BTO?" A flash of understanding crosses Sonia’s face, but both Leon and Hop seem confused at the term.

“I’d be down,” Hop replies, “if I knew what a BTO was.”

Ah- she forgets sometimes that Galar works differently than Sinnoh. Or maybe it’s just a Locked thing...she frowns before shaking her head. “It stands for  _ Best To One _ . See, it’s something that trainers sometimes do when they run out of healing items but they still want to fight. You can’t be caught out on an open route without a healthy Pokemon, right?” Hop nods in understanding. “It’s basically a Pokemon fight, but we don’t go until our Pokemon faints, only until it can’t take another hit without passing out.” She grins cheekily. “My Stardust against your Grookey and Wooloo.”

Hop seems surprised at the two-on-one, and he glances down at the Snom in her hands who seems a little too eager for battle. “Eeeeh? Are you sure? You know I’ll win!”

Stardust squeaks in retaliation, and Holly’s heart alights with excitement; for just one moment, with no stakes between them, she can feel fire for a journey she had once given up. “Don’t be so sure of yourself,” she calls out, stepping towards the field and taking her place in one of the trainer boxes drawn into the ground as Stardust situations himself in the starting area. “This isn’t my first time battling, you know!”

Grookey steps up to the challenge, jumping onto the field and giving Hop no room to argue. Not that he seems too reluctant, anyways, as he beams at her and steps into his own trainer box. “All right, you’re asking for it now. Let’s show her what we’ve got, guys!”

Unfortunately, type matchups are hard to work against when your Pokemon have barely started their training, and Stardust makes quick work of Grookey, pulling his punches even though it takes barely an Icy Wind to bring the poor grass-type to submission. Hop pouts as he releases Wooloo, but still refuses to back down. “Wooloo, that Snom’s already weak! I know you can finish him off!”

Holly’s eyes widen as Wooloo paws at the ground, and she can tell that he’s planning on finishing it in one. “Stardust,” she calls out, “wait until the last minute and then dodge!” The Wooloo begins his charge, and Stardust follows Holly’s command to the letter, tilting onto his side to avoid the powerful move.

For a split second, Stardust tilts a little too far, losing his balance and landing on one of his side-spikes, but it works in his favor as Wooloo misses his Tackle and ends up careening into a bush. “That’s it,” Holly says, exuding confidence even though it was a fluke to end all flukes that that had actually worked in their favor, “now finish it off!” With the burning passion of a frozen bug, Stardust squeaks and recovers, aiming a Struggle Bug directly at Wooloo. With barely any energy left to spare, Wooloo bleats tiredly at Hop, and he’s forced to recall his second Pokemon. Holly can’t help but be smug. “You were saying, Hop?”

He frowns good-naturedly. “This was just one time, y’know! Leon’s undefeated as a Champion, not a tr-”

For the lack of wild Pokemon near the Magnolia residence - most of them residing in the lake or further out on Route 2 - there’s a sudden rustle of activity near the edge of the lake that catches both of their attention, and Hop falls quiet as they both look in that direction. Holly takes the initiative to approach, and as she comes closer to the shore, she can see a lighter green sticking out from the dark green foliage of a nearby bush. Huh. That must’ve been what had made the sound. She can’t see the full body, but just judging from its shape, it must be a-

“Lotad!” As expected, the Pokemon jumps out of the bush as soon as it’s spotted, hopping in front of Holly and chittering excitedly. Snom, still at Holly’s side, squeaks back, and they seem to make some sort of connection quickly. “Lo! Tad!”

“Hey buddy,” she says, trying to join the conversation as she crouches down to the Lotad’s level. She’s an older one, judging by the wear and tear along the edge of her rain dish. “What’re you doing all the way out here? Just watching the fight?” She goes through a mental checklist of what she knows about Lotad; the ones native to this area tend to stray closer to Route-

Her silence earns a Water Gun to the face, and Holly sits there, stunned, as Stardust...laughs along with the wild Pokemon. “You’re a traitor,” she mutters towards Stardust, but can’t help but laugh the slightest bit at the Lotad’s own amusement as she wipes the water away with her sleeve. “It looks like you want to fight too, huh? You wanna join us?” She lowers her voice, making sure the wind doesn’t pick it up and carry it to either of the brothers. “Stardust...can you talk to her about what I told you yesterday?”

Stardust looks at Holly for a moment before nodding. He squeaks at the Lotad for a while, making enough questionable noises that she wonders what, exactly, he’s relaying to the other Pokemon. However, whatever he says doesn’t seem to deter Lotad, and she sparkles with excitement as Stardust speaks, a white aura blossoming around her with pink petals floating within. She jumps up and down in front of Holly, making fast chittering noises alongside Stardust’s boisterous squeaks.

“All right, all right. I guess I have no other choice,” she says, feigning irritation but still with a soft smile on her face as she knocks the Pokeball on the top of Lotad’s lilypad. She disappears in a red light, and the ball refuses to even wiggle before it pulses white. “Looks like you’re on our team now...Lotus.”

“Aw man, really!” Hop is the first to speak out once the display is over, and Holly raises an eyebrow at him as he pouts good-naturedly at her. “You already caught another Pokemon? Don’t think you’re better than me just because you’re ahead of me, Holly! I’ll show you- woah, hey!”

He yelps as a hand connects with the top of his head in a rough noogie, and Leon laughs as Hop shows his displeasure. “Come off it,” he teases him. “You  _ already _ have two Pokemon, don’t you? And they were both walloped by Holly’s one.”

“It’s only ‘cause Holly has more years than me,” Hop huffs as he shoves his hands in his pockets. “But I’ll close the gap! You’ll see, I’m a genius trainer!”

“Yeah, well this  _ genius trainer _ better tell his mom before he goes running off to Motostoke,” Holly teases him. “Go on ahead; I’ll catch up with you and we can head out together, okay?”

“Right! I’ll see you back at Postwick, Holly!”

Hop dashes down Route 2, Grookey following after him on foot, and Holly can’t help but feel a surge of emotions for both of them. Pride, fear, excitement, dread. “This time,” she mutters under her breath.

That earns a confused hum from Leon. “Didja say something?”

He glances at her, but she only laughs and shakes her head. “No. It’s nothing.”

This time, she repeats in her head like a mantra she won’t let anyone else hear. This time will be different. This time will be  _ better. _


	4. Haven't The Foggiest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, it sure isn't Monday. Sorry, folks!

“Hey, Aunt Merida.” Holly toes the welcome mat nervously, fingers fiddling with the Pokeballs in her apron. Stardust and Lotus are snug in their respective Pokeballs, and she can feel the coldness of one and the condensation of the other underneath her fingertips.Hop is already at his own home - or so she assumes - to tell his parents farewell, and although they’re not her parents, they  _ are _ her legal guardians, so Holly decides to suck it up and tell them the truth.

Merida seems concerned to see her at first, standing awkwardly in front of the door like their home isn’t her own by extension, but she glances down at where Holly’s hands are resting and realization crosses her face. “Holly, you...”

Holly nods in return at some question that Merida didn’t ask. “Yeah. I, uh...if it’s okay, I’m...going.”

“Going where?” Thomas appears behind his wife, towering over her as he peers down at Holly. “Ah- are those your new assignment?”

“Read the atmosphere, Thomas,” Merida scowls and swipes at her husband’s shoulder, but the expression softens considerably when she turns back to Holly. “Are you really going to do it? Take the challenge, I mean? What about your endorsement-”

“Leon took care of it,” Holly interrupts her, and both Merida and Thomas nod in understanding. He’s always been like that, pushing others to train and be their best; he had been working on Holly for years, so it’s no surprise to hear that he’s full backing her when she’s finally bit the bullet. “I, uh...” She rubs the back of her neck, casting her eyes away from them. It feels weird, saying things like this when she’d been been fighting them every step of the way before now. “I know you said you’d support me no matter what, but I promise...to make you proud.” Oh, does that sound cheesy? She thinks it does; her parents would laugh in her face if they had heard her say those words. Well, at least her father would. Perhaps her dad would take it to heart and then laugh when he’s alone.

Merida, however, thinks otherwise. “Eli would be...no. Eli  _ is _ proud of you,” Merida says with no uncertainty in her voice. “And that idiot brother of mine is too, even if he would never say it in a million years.” There’s an edge to her voice, but it’s accompanied by enough pride to soften any vitriol she has towards Holly’s father. “Whatever happens now, forge ahead and respect your partners.”

Holly nods, tears welling in her eyes again that she quickly wipes away. As if sensing her emotions in flux, a red light bolts from its Pokeball, and Stardust perches on her head, wrapping around as if trying to comfort her. Likewise, Lotus releases herself, snuggling up to Holly’s ankle in the same fashion. “Haaaa...thanks guys,” she says, smiling softly as Thomas and Merida do the same.

She wants to say more, to say anything that could reassure them more -  _ I won’t let any of my Pokemon die _ seems like overkill, but she feels like they should hear it anyways - but the tender moment is interrupted by a yell as Hop comes running out from his own home, coming to a stop and panting near the mailbox. Worried, Holly excuses herself from her aunt and uncle before confronting Hop. “It’s- it’s Rawst,” he says between labored breaths when she asks, referring to one of his mother’s Wooloo. “He ran off, and he...”

Without looking up from the ground, Hop points out to the side, and she follows the gesture with her eyes until her own gaze falls on an open gate- one that shouldn’t be open by any means. “The Slumbering Weald?” Was a single Wooloo even strong enough to bump that gate open? It almost seems ridiculous, but that’s beside the point. “Leon’s still at Sonia’s, right? We should go-”

“I’m going in,” he interrupts her, looking up when he finally catches his breath. Where she had once seen panic, she soon realizes that she had mistaken excitement instead. Right, he had always been headstrong, so she shouldn’t be surprised, but it catches her off guard regardless. “This is the first step in our adventure, right? Traversing an unexplored wilderness, rescuing a Pokemon in distress from the unknown?”

Just because he’s reckless doesn’t mean that Holly is, and she hesitates for a moment. Sure, going in would probably be faster than having to backtrack to Wedgehurst, but they had literally  _ just _ gotten their Pokemon, this is like asking for something bad to happen. “I don’t really know about this, Hop.”

“It’s  _ fine.” _ Hop persuades her, and she’s not completely convinced, but his next words are at least enough for her to nod. “As long as we have our Pokemon and run at the first sight of danger, yeah? I mean, it’s not like Rawst could’ve gone  _ too _ far...”

Next to her, Lotus chitters, edging precariously close to the edge of the Slumbering Weald. “Fine,” she eventually relents, earning excited cries from her Pokemon. “But we’re only going to get Rawst and get out, okay? No hunting for Pokemon- we can do that in the Wild Area.”

“Aye aye, cap’n!” Hop cheers and runs on ahead, followed shortly by Lotus. Although Stardust also seems just as excited as the two, he hangs back on her head, and Holly laughs at their antics before following along at a slower, yet still urgent, pace to make sure she doesn’t fall too far behind.

Fortunately, the edges of the Weald are fairly low level, and Stardust gets some training along the way, carefully aimed Icy Winds knocking aggressive Rookidees from trees before they can attack the ice worm. From the sounds coming from up ahead, Lotus is having fun with Hop as well; there are brief interludes of loud attacks and cheers between the forest’s silence.

As the fog grows, however, Holly finds it impossible to see - or even  _ hear _ \- Hop, and her nervousness begins to grow. At some point, she remotely returns Lotus, and a brief moment of panic sets in when a red light doesn’t immediately emerge from the fog, only to be assuaged as it zips back to the Pokeball after a brief delay. Stardust bites at her ankle, and she scoops him up, preferring to hold him than return him just in case a battle is completely necessary. “Hop!” Her cries seem to be swallowed up by the fog, the echo resounding around her but almost seeming unable to penetrate the dense air. “Hop, where are you?!”

Almost as if on cue, Holly takes a step forward, and the fog completely disappears from in front of her. It’s an unnatural clearing in the middle of an otherwise untraversable forest, the fog curling up around them like an opaque dome. “Holly-” Hop is right next to her, as wide-eyed as she is at the phenomenon, and his Grookey hoots nervously from next to him. “Are you okay? Where did you go?”

“I should be the one asking you th-” Her words are interrupted by a low growl, and they both turn their attention to the far end of the clearing. From the fog, a snout can be seen, followed by the rest of the creature that it belongs. It seems to be a wolf Pokemon, but unlike one that Holly has ever seen before, and over twice as big as an average Mightyena. It snarls at the two of them, and Holly wants to take a step back, but is unable to; as if paralyzed, her feet refuse to move.

Unfortunately, the same doesn’t seem to apply to Stardust as he jumps out of her arms, crawling closer to the mysterious Pokemon and squeaking defiantly. She has no time to call out to him as he charges up for a move and aims a Struggle Bug at the opponent.

The moves go straight through the Pokemon, and Holly panics, feeling setting back into her legs. If it were to attack- Stardust wouldn’t be able to- “Hey what are you doing!” Hop is the one to yell as Holly scrambles towards the two Pokemon, grabbing Stardust in her arms instead of returning him like any other trainer would. “Holly, it’s dangerous over-”

The monster acknowledges her presence for the first time, and it snarls at her, its sharp gaze piercing her heart. For just a brief moment, Holly can feel death approach, but as suddenly as it’s thrust upon her, the pressure is gone, replaced by her thoughts swimming in her head. No, not just hers alone; there are far too many words for her to be the only one responsible for the cacophony of sounds rattling around in her skull. A split second passes, and she thinks she can pick a voice out from the nothing, words that belong to another unknown being.

_ White warrior, betrayer, beloved- _

“Charizard! Flamethrower!” A powerful burst of flame cuts through both the fog in the Weald and the thoughts in her head, and the mysterious Pokemon disappears just as suddenly as it had appeared, the light from the newly-revealed sky illuminating nothing where it once was. In its place, Charizard drops from the sky, the ground almost shaking under the impact as Leon jumps off of him and approaches her and Hop. “Hop! Holly! What the hell are you two  _ thinking?!” _

Holly’s too shaken to move from where she’s crouched on the ground -  _ when had she-? _ \- and shielding Stardust, so Hop speaks for both of them as he steps in between her and Leon, his adrenaline mixing both fear and anger in his voice. “A Wooloo got in here! We had to save it!”

“You didn’t have to do anything! You know the Weald is off-limits!” The scowl on Leon’s face is uncharacteristic, but he pulls back almost immediately after, taking his cap off and pulling his hair back in tired resignation. “Listen. Guys.” He puts his cap back on, but the tired expression on his face doesn’t change. “When something dangerous happens, you leave it to the professionals, okay?” His gaze turns over to Holly, and his disappointment suddenly seems more pointed than before. “You should know better.”

Holly’s about to reply, but Hop butts in first- which is probably for the best, as her head’s still swimming from the thoughts that weren’t hers. “Don’t you go blaming Holly! I’m the one who suggested it!”

"Stop." She finally manages to get a word out, staggering to her feet with Stardust still in her arms. “Leon’s right. I’m an experienced trainer, and I should’ve known this place is too high-leveled for us.” Hop shoots her a concerned glance, but she waves it away. “We should go back now. Rawst is fine, right?”

“Yeah, but...”

She shakes her head, and Hop falls silent. However, Leon doesn’t seem willing to let it go as he watches her brush past him. “You don’t look all too guilty for someone whose Pokemon near got killed by a monster.”

“Because I’m not.” She doesn’t look at him, still holding Stardust - perhaps a bit tighter now - as she walks towards the entrance to the Weald. She has to remind herself that he doesn’t know how close to the truth he’s gotten. “If Stardust was going to die, then I would’ve gone with him.” This time, she turns back to look at him, but the look in her eyes is as indecipherable as ever. “As much as you might hate me for putting Hop in danger, believe you me it wasn’t my intention, Champion.”

She once again turns, ignoring the sharp, hushed words that Hop and Leon exchange behind her back. There’s the sound of a heavy wind before a shadow falls over them and Charizard flies out of the Weald. Footsteps approach her, just one set, and Hop’s voice almost causes her to lose the strength in her legs. “Holly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you- woah, hey, are you okay?”

“No,” she answer truthfully, as her feet give out under her, and Hop barely has time to catch her; despite being two years younger, he’s taller than her, giving him enough leverage to keep her upright. “Arceus, that was so fucking terrifying...”

Hop lets out a laugh, amusement and relief rolled into one. “Yeah, I’d reckon. We couldn’t even touch that monster, could we? We just have to get stronger...”

“Ah, I meant Leon,” Holly admits sheepishly, and which Hop snickers.

“Yeah, so did I.” This time, she laughs along with him. “Don’t worry about him though, mate. You know how he can be; he doesn’t actually hate you. Just give him a few days and he’ll probably forget this ever happened.”

She agrees half-heartedly; even if he had been too aggressive, Leon still had a  _ point. _ She should have known better, and Hop shouldn’t have been put in that position to begin with. Maybe if she had gone in alone...ah, but thoughts like those are useless, and she shakes her head. “Hey, Rawst is...”

“With Leon,” Hop reassures her, grinning again. “Seriously,  _ relax. _ We’ll get on out of here, and then we’ll hop on the train and go somewhere less dangerous, okay?”

“Like the Wild Area is any less dangerous,” she mutters under her breath, but accepts his help as they trudge out of the Weald despite his resounding laughter no longer held back by the mysterious fog. Despite the trouble she had just put him through, he still cares enough to make sure she’s still safe so they can continue their journey...together? Yeah. Together.

_ Thoughts, not hers. Sharp wolf eyes. White warrior, betrayer, beloved. _

She just hopes he doesn’t regret it later.


	5. Halfway To The Starting Point

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh geez, no this chapter title doesn't mean the gym challenge starts at chapter 10, I think I'd cry.

By the time they make it out of the Slumbering Weald, Holly has enough strength - and pride - to be walking on her own, and Lotus has once again let herself out of her Pokeball; Other trainers would be more stern about their Pokemon taking control like that, but it’s no big deal when most of the baby Pokemon she had taken care of before were the same way, and as long as they know to stay in their balls for battle, she doesn’t have any qualms.

When her aunt and uncle inquire about what had just happened, she brushes everything off with a smile. Hop looks at her with worry before explaining the main gist of the situation, but by the time he’s deep into the story, she’s already back outside the house, sitting against their wall-fence and watching Stardust and Lotus play a very lopsided game of tag. Hop doesn’t take too long, and she’s still in just about the same position when he comes out, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “You okay, Holly?” Beat. “Y’know, it’s weird to keep asking that when you’re older than me.”

She laughs a bit- just a bit, though, because she’s still pretty focused on her Pokemon. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little shaken, I guess.” She had just promised her guardians that she would make them proud, and then the very next hour she had gone and pissed off the League Champion. “You’re ready to get going, yeah? The next train leaves in ten, so we should get-”

An excited chirp interrupts them, and both Hop and Holly look over to where a third Pokemon has joined Holly’s two; it’s a Caterpie, wiggling circles around Stardust and making odd noises at Lotus. Despite whatever commotion the Caterpie seems to think this is, however, Lotus is nothing but excited for a new friend, and jumps up and down on her tiny legs as Stardust squeaks worriedly at the two of them. “Hey, you two,” Holly warns them, and Stardust seems to stiffen up in shame while Lotus just turns questioningly towards her. “Don’t go picking any fights now.”

The Caterpie - a female, judging by her size, and wild, judging by her much duller color when compared to trainer bred Caterpies - doesn’t pay Holly much attention, but at least backs off from Lotus when Stardust makes a particularly large noise almost, but not quite, akin to a human sneeze. She looks at him, looks at Lotus, and bows her head, a surprisingly human sign of shame from such a small bug-type Pokemon. Lotus seems to take it in stride, and settles to sit in front of Caterpie, chittering twice in rapid succession.

As if she hadn’t just been threatening Lotus’s life, the Caterpie does a complete 180 and gracefully makes herself at home in Lotus’s dish, and the Lotad seems to have no problem waddling along with the extra weight on her head. “Uh...” Holly can’t help but pause in her tracks as she watches the sight, then turn to Hop. “Did I just adopt a Caterpie?”

Hop snickers. “I guess so- you think maybe your reputation as a breeder is getting the best of you?” He rests his hands behind his head, snickering when Stardust begins to harrass Lotus to let him ride along, as well. “Are you gonna keep her?”

Holly shrugs; there’s no point  _ not _ to, and as long as she knows the consequences, Holly wouldn’t say no to another member of the team. As if sensing their conversation, Stardust rests his front legs against Lotus, who stops for a moment and lets him address the Caterpie. As soon as a white Aura blossoms around her, tainted with dabs of bright red like blood on snow, Stardust squeaks happily and backs off. Lotus waddles over to Holly, jumping up and down excitedly- unfortunately, the Caterpie seems more than a little jostled by the movement, making loud, worried noises as she’s kicked off of her lotus pad ride.

“Hey, be careful of your friend now,” Holly chides Lotus, crouching so she’s at their level. Lotus pays no attention to the reprimand, however, and instead dives straight for her Pokeball, pulling it out of the apron around Holly’s waist. She picks it up in her beak, waddles over to the Caterpie, and starts pressing it against her. It takes a moment for Holly to realize what she’s doing, but when she does, she can’t help but laugh out loud. “Lotus, stop that, you can’t use your own ball. Here,” she says, offering a new Pokeball from her bag, and Lotus immediately tosses her own Pokeball away - into a bush that Holly goes scrambling over to to recover it - and taps the Caterpie with it. As usual, Caterpie disappears in a bright red flash of light, before the Pokeball wiggles a couple times and comes to a stop. By the time the capture is finished, Holly has returned with Lotus’s Pokeball, and she sighs in relief upon seeing Lotus standing triumphantly over her new friend’s ball. “Ah, I’m glad everything worked-”

“Hey, that Caterpie still registers as yours, right?”

“-shit.” Hop cackles madly as his words send Holly into a panic, and she pulls out her Pokedex - not the Rotom kind, but still upgraded to the Galar form thanks to Sonia - to make sure Caterpie is registered as hers. Fortunately, the new member is on her roster, and she glares weakly at Hop. “Don’t make fun of me! I was really worried that Lotus became a Pokemon training Pokemon for a minute there!”

“Yeah, yeah,” he brushes her off as she huffs and releases the Caterpie so she can settle once more in Lotus’s lilypad. “What’re you going to name her? Something related to Stardust since they’re both bug types?”

She shakes her head, tossing the Pokeball a few times before putting it in her apron. “Butterfrees have these really pretty red eyes- I used to live in a meadow, so we had a bunch of bug types visit and Butterfree were always my favorite. Ah, sorry, Stardust,” she says as he squeaks in indignation upon realizing that Snom weren’t at the top of her list. “Anyways, their eyes are really big and red, so she’ll be Carmine.”

“You come up with the coolest nicknames,” Hop says in awe. “Maybe I should start nicknaming my Pokemon.” She just laughs, but nothing more is said until they’re on the train to Motostoke.

As the scenery passes by in the background, they end up scouring Alakazite - Galar’s regional search engine, although Holly much prefers Sinnoh’s own NinjAsk - for trainer cards and ping-ponging information to each other to prepare them for the League. Leon has several cards, of course, but they’re not too interested in him; instead, Holly starts reading up on the Leaders that are strong against bug- and ice-type Pokemon, going so far as to find videos of Kabu’s recent battles online.

She’s halfway into an exhibition match between him and Circhester’s own Melonie when the train lurches, the inertia pushing her against the table and sending her phone flying into Hop’s face. He splutters and hands it back, just in time for the conductor to make a very... _ Galarian _ announcement.

“Sheep on the track,” Holly says in disbelief; she’s been in the country for five whole years and it still feels too stereotypical to be true. “Train can’t run ‘cause sheep on track.”

Hop just shrugs vaguely. “Yeah. Happens sometimes.” He grins at her. “You know what that means though, right?”

“It means a lot of things,” she says blandly, but humors him anyways. “What?”

“We’re going to the Wild Area! We can get our inaugural Gym Challenge catch!”

She rolls her eyes, opening her apron so he can see the three Pokeballs she’s already carrying. “Hop, I already caught Lotus  _ and  _ Carmi-”

“Inaugural! Catch! Inaugural! Catch!” Hop keeps chanting despite her protests, and she has no choice but to go after him as he bounds into the Wild Area.

Despite his endless energy, Hop takes a ridiculously long amount of time to choose his first target, and she only watches in amusement as he chases a terrified Rookidee around in three whole circles before disappearing over a hill.

Holly, fortunately, has a much easier time of things as a Bunnelby just stands next to her, watching the commotion with wide eyes before tugging on her pant leg and looking up at her, her sparkly white aura pulsing with both confusion and relief. Holly just looks down at her for a moment before nodding solemnly. “Yeah. I’m glad that isn’t me, too.”

She then proceeds to do a double take as she realizes she’s already been chosen by a Pokemon she’s literally just met.

There’s a long moment of silence between them before Stardust chitters at the Bunnelby. Unfortunately, she doesn’t say anything for a long time, but then her aura pulses again, and Holly furrows her brow, wondering if it isn’t that she doesn’t  _ want _ to say anything. She crouches down to the rabbit Pokemon’s level, tilting her head. “Did you get that?” The Bunnelby nods. “Do you still want to join us?” She nods again. “Are you...mute?”

This time, the Bunnelby frowns and tilts her head, obviously confused. It takes Holly a moment to realize that a wild Pokemon probably wouldn’t understand what mute means - even if they can understand human speech, their upper level vocabulary doesn’t really develop until early to mid training - but the Bunnelby’s point is made anyways. “All right,” Holly pulls out one of her last Pokeballs; she only has one for each of the six slots on her team, and she hadn’t expected to fill half of them so quickly. Bunnelby goes in without a word, lets the Pokeball settle, and then hops back out to snuffle over to the other members of the party.

“Holly?” A familiar voice echoes from behind her, and she picks up the Bunnelby’s - Blythe’s - Pokeball before turning around to see the guy who had addressed her. He’s a run of the mill breeder, with the same weird overalls and the same backwards snapback as everybody else who practices their craft on Route 5, but Holly has spent so many long hours with those guys over at the daycare that she’s able to tell which one’s which just by looking at the freckles dusting their cheeks. This one’s Milford, if she remembers correctly. “Hey, it’s been a long time! Are you still working with that Toxel from Lumiere?”

She shakes her head, dusting off Blythe’s Pokeball and putting it in her apron. “Ah, no. I’m actually taking the Gym Challenge now.” His eyes widen and, if Holly isn’t mistaken, actually shine  _ hopefully _ as she speaks. “How about you? I heard you were recently moved to the Wild Area daycare.”

“Yeah, about that-” He’s interrupted by a loud, angry squeak, and Holly whirls around to find an unfamiliar blob of brown-and-cream all but sitting on top of a familiar blob of white-and-blue. “Ah, there he is.” From within an Eevee’s firm grasp, Stardust tries to wiggle free, making loud noises that would probably be threatening to anything smaller than a Blipbug, but is honestly just plain cute to anyone else. “That’s my new ‘mon,” Milford explains as Holly watches his and Stardust’s tense interaction.

She raises an eyebrow and turns back to Milford. “Your new job?”

“Nah, my new ‘mon. The trainer said he didn’t want him, something about being too energetic for an Umbreon.” Ah. They get those sometimes, the people who typecast Pokemon into personality niches. She’s sure the Eevee would make a perfectly good Umbreon; he already acts like a stall wall, if the way he’s trapping Stardust and annoying him to hell and back is any indicator. “Problem is, I can’t exactly bring him back to the daycare since we’ve already got our hands full with the Gym Challenge coming up and all. I thought I could take care of him, but he’s really into the idea of being a battle Pokemon, and you know i can’t do that.” Despair inches into his voice. “I need to find a trainer for this little guy all quick-like, so...”

Oh no, she can see where this is going.

“Vui vui!” Between the lull in the humans’ conversation, the Eevee crows happily, nibbling on one of Stardust’s spikes. He doesn’t take too kindly to that, and makes an odd hissing noise that she’s never heard from him before- not that it deters Eevee any as his paws box him in place. He doesn’t seem to want to hurt Stardust, so she shoots the ice-type a pleading look. Stardust is unamused and voices as much, but at least doesn’t put up a fight anymore.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Holly turns back to Milford, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow at him. “Well, Stardust likes him, so I  _ guess _ I can take him until I find a better trainer, but I don’t know if I  _ should.” _

“Please,” Milford begs her, and she can’t help but sigh. Breeders are good at their job, that much is true, but Milford seems to have forgotten what his job  _ is _ ; if the Eevee wants to train, then he should have taken him to a proper trainer instead of pushing all the work onto himself.

Unfortunately, though, Holly is too nice for her own good, and sighs, looking over at where Stardust’s aura mixes with a brand new white aura around the Eevee. It seems as though he’s already made up his mind. “Fine,” she relents, ignoring his cheers as he passes the Eevee’s Pokeball over to her. “But don’t do this again, okay? I know you care about the Pokemon, but you still need to look after yourself too, you know.”

“I know, I know! Seriously though, I owe you so much.”

Milford sticks around for just a bit longer before bidding her farewell, and Holly finally has a moment to breathe and name the newest addition to the team. The Eevee’s aura is white as well, but no special symbols or effects float inside it; for once, Holly is at a loss as to what she should name him. Ah, uh...E...Ex...el? Exel.” It sounds stupid, but her Pokemon’s nicknames are a hill she’s planning to die on.

Exel seems to take his name in stride, purring happily, and it’s just as well since Holly doesn’t have time to think of another name when Hop’s bounding up to her from down the hill. “Hey, was that Wilson? What’d he want?”

Holly’s about to correct him, but she stops short, suddenly unsure of herself.  _ Was _ that Wilson? Maybe she missed that freckle right under his left eye. Or maybe she was right...right? Now she doesn’t know. Fuck. “Ah, he couldn’t keep his Eevee, so I sort of...got an Eevee now.”

Hop blinks, looks down at Holly’s near-full team, blink again, and smiles at her. She’s not sure how much of it is forced, but fifty-seven percent seems to be a good estimate. “Congrats, Holly! Hey, I’ll meet you at Motostoke, okay? I’m going to go...train a bit with my...Pokemon.” He glances down at his own three Pokeballs on his hip, obviously trying to be subtle and obviously failing.

Holly takes pity on him and nods. “Yeah, all right. Just don’t stay up too late; sign-ups are tomorrow, and I’m not going to wake you up, even if I do pass you somehow.”

“Hey! I’m not like Lee! I can wake up perfectly fine on my own! Watch me!” With the tension cut - much to Holly’s relief - he races back down the hill, and she watches until he’s just a speck of blue and purple in the distance. Unlike him, she takes her time in walking, whistling to her Pokemon so they know she’s moving along before taking a leisurely stroll the long way around Lake Axewell. Their pace is bogged down by the multitude of Pokemon tumbling after her - it’s almost amusing how they all seem to pause and stare at something in unison before realizing they’re being left behind and stumble over each other to try and catch up with her - but it’s fine; she knows they’ll be confined to their Pokeballs for the vast majority of tomorrow, so she lets them have their fresh air today.

It’s still pretty light out when she decides to set up camp; they’re in a spacious part of the Dappled Grove, close to a treeline for cover but out in a clearing so she can send up a flare if anything happens, and she’d rather set up camp early in a nice spot than get stuck somewhere they can be ambushed by absurdly strong Pokemon. As she gets the gear out - the automatic tent pitcher she got for her last birthday is absolutely going to be worth its weight in gold now - and starts lighting a fire and chopping up ingredients for a batch of breeder-friendly wilderness curry, she pulls out her Rotom phone, laughing as it buzzes excitedly at being used properly instead of having her fingers all over its screen while the Pokemon inside is in sleep mode. “Can you call Sonia for me?”

The phone barely rings twice before Sonia picks it up, her Rotom phone flying next to her to give her a side profile as she fixes her makeup. She doesn’t look up at first, finishing her lipstick before she does. “Hello- ah, Holly! I was just about to call you, actually, how’s everything going?”

“Good, actually.” Holly explains what had happened at the Slumbering Weald, and Sonia is enraptured by the story; Holly hesitates a moment when she gets to the part about the voices in her head, worried that Sonia would think badly of her, but common sense gets the better of her. Sonia already knows her deepest scars, another fear on top of that one wouldn’t make her hate her. Sonia listens with a serious look on her face, and never once interrupts her, and it’s only after Holly’s processed everything and moved on that Sonia tells Holly about her own assignment. “I know it’s just busywork,” Sonia says, waving her hand flippantly. “Gran doesn’t want to go out and gather data, so I have to do it for her.”

“Still,” Holly interjects, “I’m proud of you. You’re doing field research.” Why is she proud? Holly doesn’t know herself; she can’t explain it, not when Sonia was given a task she doesn’t even really want to do, but it still feels right to say.

Regardless of how Holly feels on the matter, Sonia turns it around quickly. “What about you? Will you be okay?”

There’s a beat before Holly replies. “I think so,” she admits, looking at her team. There’s a decent handful of them - Stardust, Lotus, Carmine and now the newest members of the team, Exel and Blythe - and that’s already more than she ever had in Sinnoh. “I’m glad. If I have a full team, I can swap them out, they won’t get hurt.” She mentally knocks on wood. “And Stardust has talked to everyone, they understand the risks.” Do they really, though? She doesn’t know; death is a universal constant, so she can only assume...but she’s trying her damnedest to make sure the Pokemon she has are always there of their own volition. “Now we’re out here...I’m making curry, and they’re all playing. It’s almost surreal.”

“It’s something you deserve,” Sonia replies, her image zooming around the campsite as the Rotom phone captures footage of Holly’s whole team. “You’ve been putting this off for a long time, Holly, even if you say you were fine with being stuck in Postwick.”

For once, she can’t really argue with that. She wants to reply, to tell Sonia that she’s right and that Holly was wrong, and so she opens her mouth- and squeaks when her pot begins boiling over, curry spilling over the sides and landing in thick goopy drops on the grass below. She moves to try and wipe the curry off of the side, but yelps and moves her hand away, forgetting that the pot is set on top of a raging fire- and getting curry all over her apron in the process. “I, uh, I gotta go! I’ll talk to you later, okay? Tell Professor Magnolia I said hi!”

Sonia laughs and concedes, watching in amusement as Holly struggles to save the food. Holly hopes she’s mistaken, but she thinks she hears a soft ‘ _ Rotom, record this’ _ before Sonia’s voice picks up. “Right! I’ll see you soon- or whenever my trail leads back to you.”

They bid their farewells, and Holly heaves a sigh of relief as she manages to douse the flame and stop the pot from letting loose any more curry. Once she makes sure that taking the top off won’t make anything explode, she begins to plate the food, making sure there’s more than enough for a small hoard of growing Pokemon. “All right guys, dinner’s ready...I hope.” Stardust squeaks loudly at the sight of the curry, and the others come running shortly after; Holly can’t help but laugh at the obedient line of Pokemon who seem to have determined rank in short order. Stardust leads the procession, and she patiently doles out curry to each of the Pokemon. For a while, they all just enjoy the food and each other’s company, but it’s not too long until Blythe gets jumpy again, and she rouses the other Pokemon into an after-meal game of tag. As they get their energy out - and hopefully prepare them to sleep instead of staying up all night - she collects the plates and washes them before putting out the campfire.

Within the seclusion of the tree line, Holly lets herself assume that nobody is around and changes her clothes; while she’d much prefer a bath or hot shower, she doesn’t want to dip into Lake Axewell naked, and she can really wait until Motostoke if she has to. She makes sure that no embers remain in the campfire before laying her sleeping bag out; for the first night, she decides to forgo a tent, and instead lays in the middle of the clearing, her Pokemon huddling around her and sleeping under the same moon as her. Despite her blunder earlier, everyone is content, and the path before her is suddenly so large and full of Pokemon. Underneath the stars, the world seems so wide. She’s a trainer now, they seem to say. She’s a trainer and this whole sky is hers to claim.

* * *

An hour later, going unwatched by the eyes that have closed to fitful rest, those same stars turn to ash.


End file.
